Wednesday, April 18, 2018

"The Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) has received a number of complaints about the deceptive marketing tactics of the real estate developers." CCP Chairperson Vadiyya Khalil revealed this while addressing the participants of the open hearing on competition issues in the real estate sector here on Tuesday.

After Islamabad, the CCP arranged open hearing on competition issues in the real estate sector to give an opportunity to the stakeholders to voice their concerns on relevant issues. During the hearing the consumers, property dealers, town developers and other stakeholders burst out with complaints regarding different issues in the real estate sector.

The housing societies across the country are deceiving the consumers through deceptive marketing practices. These include false claims relating to the facilities being offered, hiding important information such as development charges, misleading people on facts such as distance from key landmarks, and status of approvals of relevant authorities," she added.

She said the real estate sector plays a crucial role in the development and economic growth of Pakistan by its contribution to the national GDP, attracting local and foreign investment, and generating employment opportunities. "The real estate sector spends billions of rupees on marketing campaigns in print and electronic media to publicise their offers, she added.

CCP chairperson said that after consulting with the stakeholders in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi, the Commission will issue an opinion on the real estate sector to address various competition concerns and to protect the consumers' interests. She thanked the participants and said that CCP would continue to work for the protection of the consumers from anti-competitive practices including deceptive marketing practices.

The hearing was attended in large number by the consumers, representatives of private housing societies, officials of the Lahore Development Authority, Faisalabad City Government, Gujranwala City Government, Housing Building Finance Corporation, and different ministries of the Punjab government.

The stakeholders called for effective monitoring of the real estate sector, particularly the private housing societies that were deceiving consumers through deceptive advertising. "Most of the facilities offered are not provided on ground. Allotment of plots is delayed in most of the cases while various private housing societies sell plots without obtaining approvals of the authorities," they complained.

The officials of the provincial government said the private housing societies are required to fulfill all the formalities before selling plots to the consumers and asked people to verify the status of private towns before investing their money. Some of the participants suggested that the private housing societies should be barred from advertising their housing schemes before completing the formalities and approvals and possession of land.